Bernard Schoenburg: Johnson, Clarke moves coincidental?

Wednesday

Apr 25, 2012 at 12:01 AMApr 25, 2012 at 10:21 PM

The fact that JERRY CLARKE, former chief of staff to U.S. Rep. TIM JOHNSON, R-Urbana, was ready to announce his own campaign so quickly after Johnson withdrew from the general election has yielded questions about whether the timing was a coincidence.

The fact that JERRY CLARKE, former chief of staff to U.S. Rep. TIM JOHNSON, R-Urbana, was ready to announce his own campaign so quickly after Johnson withdrew from the general election has yielded questions about whether the timing was a coincidence.

Chief among the public questioners has been state Sen. KYLE McCARTER, R-Lebanon, who withdrew this week as a candidate to replace Johnson on the ballot.

McCarter said it looks like Johnson and Clarke orchestrated Johnson’s announcement on Clarke’s behalf. He said the same thing to the Champaign News-Gazette earlier.

“I think most of the public would look at it and think the same thing,” McCarter told me. “I’m just one of the few people who’s willing to state the obvious.

“I understand this may just be the way we’ve done things in politics for a long time,” McCarter said. “But I’m saying we have to do it differently.”

Clarke’s campaign website domain name, www.clarkeforcongress.com, was registered on GoDaddy.com on Feb. 12, more than seven weeks before Johnson’s April 5 withdrawal announcement.

Johnson easily won the primary March 20. But his ballot replacement will be chosen not by voters, but by the 14 GOP county chairmen from the new 13th Congressional District.

Clarke issued a news release April 6 that he would have news conferences in Urbana and Springfield April 9 to make his formal announcement. And DAVE BENDER, the Logan County GOP chairman and longtime friend of Clarke, already had the title of campaign manager.

Clarke told me the day after Johnson’s announcement that he had known Johnson wasn’t happy, but that he still considered the announcement “pretty sudden.” He said he knew it was coming “just a few days before” Johnson’s news conference.

MIKE CYS, Clarke’s spokesman, said Wednesday Clarke did not know Johnson was quitting when the website was registered.

“For some time, we’ve known that Tim was eventually going to retire,” Cys said, “and Jerry has made it clear that when that day came, he would be announcing his intention to run for this seat. We kind of had a feeling that this was (Johnson’s) last election.”

“We assumed this was for 2014,” Cys said of the website, “and we were just gearing up.”
Clarke, a Pawnee native, is now chief of staff to U.S. Rep. RANDY HULTGREN, R-Winfield.
PHIL BLOOMER, spokesman for Johnson, also said criticism of Johnson’s timing is off base.

“If this sequence of events fits into someone’s conspiracy theory, so be it,” Bloomer said. “Jerry Clarke has never made a secret of his intent to run for Congress someday. His whole career has been geared to that. I think he was aware of Tim’s growing frustrations with the job, but I don’t think even Tim knew in early February that he was going to retire. I certainly didn’t.”

Johnson was doing aggressive campaigning and fundraising “all over the 13th District throughout February and into March,” Bloomer said. “He didn’t have to do that if he knew he was leaving office.

“This is not a Kennedy dynasty,” Bloomer said. “Whether the nominee is Jerry Clarke, RODNEY DAVIS or Miss America, the lineage of succession is for a strong Republican who can serve this district with the same energy, intelligence and dignity that Tim Johnson has.”

Davis, a Taylorville resident, is projects director for U.S. Rep. JOHN SHIMKUS, R-Collinsville. Among other candidates who have emerged is ERIKA HAROLD, an Urbana native and the 2003 Miss America. Others in the mix include state Reps. JIM WATSON of Jacksonville and DAN BRADY of Bloomington; former state Rep. MIKE TATE, now of Springfield; former state Agriculture Director BECKY DOYLE of Macoupin County, and DAVID PAUL BLUMENSHINE, a real estate broker from Bloomington.

“I’d emphasize that Tim has not endorsed anyone,” Bloomer said of Johnson. “It’s up to the county chairmen.”

McCarter said that if the chairmen chose Clarke after “an open and transparent vetting of the candidates … that’s great. I’ll be there. I’ll join them.

“But I just think for the people’s sake and to renew that trust in our government and elected officials, we’ve got to make this process as open and transparent as possible.”

McCarter said he wants to see a conservative named to the ballot, but he doesn’t yet have a favorite. He did say that he considers Davis “an honest man” and a friend who “ought to be looked at seriously.”

McCarter’s state Senate race in the new 54th District has him running against Democrat DANNY STOVER of Centralia. Stover lost a congressional race against Shimkus in 2006.

“This is going to be a hard-fought race,” Cys said of the contest to replace Johnson on the ballot. “Jerry is working his tail off to earn this nomination. … If what people were saying is true, he’d already have it.”

DAVID GILL, an emergency room physician from Bloomington, is the Democratic nominee in the new 13th.

‘Framework timeline’ set
State Republican Chairman PAT BRADY Wednesday said there is a “framework timeline” set for GOP county chairmen in the new 13th Congressional District to name Johnson’s replacement.

Application forms are available on the party’s website at www.weareillinois.org. Click on the “learn” and then “party resources” tabs.

Anyone can apply. They must be returned by May 2. The county chairmen will meet privately in Springfield May 5 to interview candidates.

After that, Brady said, the group plans to reconvene May 19 in Springfield.

“We anticipate taking a vote” depending on whether background checks and other aspects of the vetting process are completed, he said. The timing gives chairmen a chance after the interviews to talk to rank and file Republicans about the candidates.

“The timing of Congressman Johnson’s stepping down put us in a bad spot, and we’re trying to do our best to make sure that this is a fair and open process and people get to have their input,” Brady said.

Bernard Schoenburg is political columnist for The State Journal-Register. He can be reached at 788-1540 or follow him via twitter.com/bschoenburg. His email address is
bernard.schoenburg@sj-r.com.

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